Friday, 11 November 2011

Idle Recollections (Du Mu)

I'd like to offer you my translation of a poem by the 9th century Tang dynasty poet Du Mu. The image is of modern-day Yuangzhou in China where the poem was set. Enjoy!

Idle RecollectionsLost, my spirit roamed carefree,Rivers and lakes its scenery,Gladdened by wine and girls from ChuWhose slender waists my palms once knew.Ten years, and then as if in sleep,I wakened from this dream so deepTo find the only fame I'd wonWas in love's haunts for love undone.Yangzhou bliss had brought no favour,Just idle memories to savour.

Thanks Jon. I need to edit again. The original says something like his fame for fickle love has brought him into disrepute except in houses of love.

Just recording my previous edit"To find the only name I'd wonWas disrepute for careless fun.Except in haunts lovers savour,Yangzhou bliss has brought no favour."

But now I've changed it. Maybe "love undone" should be replaced with "careless fun", but otherwise the version in the main body is surely an almost-final version. so hopefully it's at least as good as all the previous ones, and really sorry about the edits.

Logically, it should be "the only fame I'd won/ Was in love's haunts for careless fun", but "love haunts for love undone" seems to sound better... the "d" sound is somehow really important throughout the poem?

Ah, more ideas "in love's haunts for casual fun"... and "bliss left me no favour" hopefully giving an allusion to the transient favours of the love haunts. And I think I prefer the old first line... "Lost, my spirit roamed carefree".

Thanks Jon! My bump didn't work to attract others back. It's quite interesting to try to work out which is the unconscious and which the "me" getting in my own way. The video version is somehow closer to the former. Still not sure what "love undone" is supposed to mean, but it somehow seems to sound better. Of course, rational "me" can't stand the ambiguity. :)

A short entertainment:

Alone Drinking (Du Mu)

Outside my window pane, snow blows in a straight line.I snuggle against the stove and reach for the flasked wine.Like a fishing boat in rain, my room seems to shiverAs I sail into sleep down an autumn river.

Far up on cold mountain, the stone path circles high,To a place among white clouds, a village in the sky.Travelling by carriage in the sunset's evening glow,A lightness fills my heart, a love more bright than snow.I stop and marvel at the maple forest bowers,Their frosty leaves are redder than February's flowers.

At the time of Pure Brightness Festival, rain-drenched and spattered,A traveller coming up the road, his spirit almost shattered,Politely asks a shepherd-boy where he might find a lodge to stay.To far-off apricot-blossom hamlet, the young lad points the way.

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My online pen-name is okei. I'm a lover of mathematics & poetry & philosophy, and a perennial student in the UK with an interest in sport, world music, world film, the wisdom of the mystics, and the essence of beauty, love and knowledge.